“Neil?”
“Yeah?”
Through tears, I said, “I love you, too.”
He grabbed me, holding me so tightly in his arms that I could barely breathe.
20
“Damn, that was easy,” I muttered, as I picked up the remote and turned the TV on. I hadn’t had one in a long time, years. When I was in my shit, I was barely home enough to watch TV, always at some bar or card game or something. At one point, I gambled both the TVs I did own away. I didn’t care about TV, because I had my books and my Sage, but my Sage obviously wanted a TV, so I bought one.
I didn’t have cable or a satellite yet, but I did have Wi-Fi and it was a Roku TV, so she could watch YouTube and Netflix and Hulu on it. She kept her eyes on that computer too damn much. She was going to mess her eyes up.
I was playing around with the TV when my phone rang. I didn’t recognize the number.
“Hello?” I answered, eyes still on the TV.
“Neil?”
What the fuck?
I snatched the phone from my ear and stared at the screen, then put it back to my ear. “Emery? How’d you get my number?”
“From Jeremy.”
I made a mental note to curse Jeremy’s ass out. He was definitely up to something. “Look, I don’t know what’s going on, but I’m married, happily married, and the last time I checked, so were you.”
“Yeah…I was, but Gala and I split about a year ago.”
“Sorry to hear that.”
“That’s all you have to say?”
“What were you expecting? For me to bust out laughing? I’m sure that was hard for you and I’m sorry for that. I’d do anything to keep from losing my wife, so I get it.”
“Oh, well…thank you, Neil.”
“No problem, so…like I said, I’m a married man and—”
“I just need to talk to you. It’s important.”
“About what?”
“It’d be better if we did it in person.”
“Not gonna happen.”
“Why?”
“You really want me to keep repeating this shit? I’m married, happily married, and I’m not going to disrespect my wife by meeting up with my ex when I don’t even know why the fuck I’m meeting up with you. So, you may as well just go ahead and tell me now.”
“Neil, I really, really need to tell you this in person.”
“You know what? I don’t have time for this. When you’re done playing games—”
“Fine! I wanted to talk to you about our daughter.”
“Our what? The fuck are you talking about? I ain’t got no kids.”
“Yes, you do. A girl. She’s seven and her name is Sophia. Gala took her from me, and I need your help getting her back.”
He was mad at me, almost as mad as he was that night I went to the strip club. But this time, I didn’t sneak off in the middle of the night without telling him. He knew I was at a client’s house working. He just didn’t know where the client’s house was. But thanks to my car deciding not to start, he now knew.
He boosted it for me, and for some reason, it shocked me that he knew how to do that.
After he got it started, I said, “Thanks, baby. I hated to call you. I couldn’t remember if you were going into the store or not today.”
“It’s all good. You done with your client?” His voice told me that he was trying to keep his cool, but I could see the anger in his eyes.
“Yeah,” I replied.
“Good, I’ma follow you home.”
“Okay.”
When we finally made it home, I followed him inside, shut the door, and froze. “You got us a TV?!”
“Yep.” He dropped his keys on the coffee table and dropped his body onto the sofa.
“Neil—”
“I don’t understand you. I don’t understand why you keep putting yourself in danger. I swear I passed a thousand little make-shift memorials on street corners in that neighborhood. What the fuck are you trying to pay, Sage?”
“Nothing…I just like my job, and a lot of my clients are my friends but they’re not rich. They can’t help where they live, Neil.”
“Okay, is there a way you can do your job without risking your damn life, though?”
“Uh, if I had a space, yeah. I didn’t think you’d want all those strangers in and out of here.”
“I’d rather they come here than to get a call saying my wife got shot!”
“Okay, okay! You ain’t gotta shout!”
“Yeah, I do, because you just don’t seem to get it!”
“I do get it! And-and I’ll start bringing the ones who live in the ‘hood here. All right?”
“Good, because this shit is ridiculous,” he muttered, rubbing his forehead. “We got any Tylenol? I got a fucking headache.”
“No, I think all we got is Midol.”
“Shit.”
“Did I give you a headache? I’m sorry. I love youuuuu,” I sang, trying to lighten things. Neil was nothing if not intense as hell.
He looked up at me and shook his head, his eyes softer. “Nah, I just had a bad day, a really bad day. Look, I’m sorry for yelling and stuff, and I love you, too. I think I’ma go lay it down for a minute, see if that helps my head. Check the TV out. It’s got a Roku built into it.”
“Really?!” I bent over and kissed his forehead. “Thank you, Neil! You really didn’t have to buy one, though.”
“Naw, I didn’t like you always looking at that computer screen. You were gonna mess your eyes up.”
“Well, thank you again.”
“You’re welcome, baby. I just wanna make you happy, you know that, right? That’s all I want, for you to be happy with me. Happy and safe.”
“I am happy with you, Neil.”
“Good. Enjoy your TV, baby.”
“I will! Hey, wait.”
As he stood to leave the room, he asked, “What?”
“Uh…you think maybe I could do something to help your headache?”
“Something like what?”
I grabbed the waist of his jogging pants and began pulling them down as I lowered myself to my knees. As I put my mouth on him, he said, “Shit! What headache?”
21
As I entered the house, Liberian music was filling the place, oozing from the stereo speakers in the living room, and there was an aroma in the air that made my stomach smile.
She was home.
She worked so much, it was rare that she beat me home, and when she did, it was like Christmas to me. I never thought I’d know what it felt like to come home to music and food and a wife. This was the life, for real.
When I stepped into the kitchen, I found her at the stove moving her hips to the music and stirring something. I eased up behind her, snaked my arms around her, moved her braids, and kissed her neck.
She turned her head and grinned at me. “Hey! You’re home!”
Smiling, I said, “Yeah, I am.”
Placing the spoon in the pot, she spun around and kissed me, and I took that moment to grasp her hips and move to the music with her. As we danced to a song I was now familiar with—Shine P’s Everybody Shaking—I asked, “What you cooking, baby?”
Rotating her thick body, she shook her ass for me. “Rice with palava sauce. It’s got fish in it, so I hope that’s okay.”
As she faced me again, lifted her arms, and danced into mine, I said, “Yeah, I’m okay with that. It smells good as hell. What made you cook today?”
She shrugged. “I got finished with my one client early and decided to surprise you. Surprise!”
I chuckled. “I love your loud ass. You know that?”
“I love you, too!”
My phone rang in my pocket, and Sage said, “Go ahead and get that. Food’ll be ready in a little bit.”
“A’ight.” Checking the screen, I frowned, watched Sage turn back to the stove, and then I headed to our bedroom, closing the door behind me. By then, I’d missed the call but called the number ba
ck.
“Hello. You’re screening your calls?”
“What do you want, Emery?”
“You know what I want! Are you going to help me?”
I sighed. “Look, don’t ever call me again. I’ll call you.”
“Neil, this is our child we’re talking about. She is far more important than that little default wife of yours that you don’t even want. I know you don’t, because out of the tons of women you screwed when we were together, including me, none of us look anything like her. I know you were desperate, probably lonely, and she was all you thought you could get at the time, but I’m offering you a second chance, a chance to be a real family with me and Sophia.”
Leaning against the bedroom door, I stared across the room at my reflection in the dresser mirror, and then I ended the call, shut my phone off, and joined my wife for dinner.
“Yeah, Nat! Go! Go! Go!” Everett thundered, up out of his seat, hands cupping his mouth. “Get it, Nat! Rawrrrr! Run like a lion!”
“Do lions run fast?” Bridgette asked.
“Who knows?” Jo answered.
Everett was acting like Nat had just hit the ball over the fence instead of barely tapping it off the tee, but she could run fast as hell, though.
“Yeah! There you go!” Everett screamed, once she made it to first base where she turned around and waved at him.
“I did it, Daddy!” she shouted.
“Good job, baby girl!” he yelled back, then his big ass finally sat down on the short bleachers and announced to all of us—me, Leland, Nolan, and our wives, along with Ella, and hell, even little Lena—that he taught her how to run like that.
“Daddy, you are doing the absolute most right now,” Ella said.
“Uh, he wouldn’t be your daddy if he didn’t do the absolute most,” Jo noted.
Ella laughed.
“Y’all need to stop hating. I do the same thing when I be cheering for Ella,” Everett argued.
“Exactly!” Ella agreed through a giggle. “You even cheer when Lena poops.”
“She poops like a big girl, though. Y’all some real haters,” Everett mumbled.
“Whatever, Daddy,” Ella said, bouncing Lena in her lap. She was getting big with all that sandy hair.
“So,” Everett said, turning to me and lowering his voice, “things still good over in Venice?”
“Yeah, me and Sage are great,” I said.
“Emery still popping up and shit?” Everett asked. “When I saw her at the club, I was like, ‘The fuck?’”
I sighed. “Man, she on some real bullshit right now. Some shit I can’t talk about out here. It’s just…I really think she got a problem with me being happy.”
“Yeah, that’s what it looks like,” Everett said.
“You good?” Nolan asked in a low voice, as Everett returned his attention to the game. He was the only person I’d told about this alleged daughter stuff. I didn’t believe for a damn minute that she’d been hiding a kid from me all these years, but if she had, that was totally and completely fucked up.
I shrugged. “Shit…I don’t know. It’s just…”
“It’s fucked up, but I’m on it. All right?”
I nodded.
“What y’all whispering about?” Sage asked, as she handed me a little bag of popcorn and reclaimed her seat next to me with a bag of Skittles in her hand.
“It took you that long, and this is all you got?” I answered her question with a question.
“There was a line and it’s a table, not a real concession stand. Not much to choose from. So, what were y’all talking about?”
“I was just telling Nolan about my birthday gift from you.”
“Ohhhh.” She grinned at me, tossing a piece of candy in her mouth.
Nolan leaned forward to look at her. “Yeah, a complete set of Hidden Colors DVDs and a Wiz DVD? You know your husband, huh?”
“Yep. Three things he loves for sure: blackness, his mama, and fuc—I mean, sex. Dang, I forgot it was kids out here.”
“And you loud as hell, per usual,” Bridgette pointed out.
“She can get as loud as she wants. The louder the better, if you ask me,” I said.
“Yeah! Run, Nat! Runnnn!!!!” Everett hollered, indicating that Nat was back up to bat or had batted or was running the bases, or something. Then his extra ass hopped up and ran onto the field.
Jo shook her head. “I am so damn embarrassed.”
I watched as Everett picked Nat up from second base and hugged her. All the while, she giggled, and Ella said, “He really needs help. He did me like that at an awards assembly once. I’m scared to see what he does at my graduation next year.”
“Shoot, me too!” Jo said.
“Your daddy loves his girls, Ella,” Leland stated, finally taking his mouth off his wife’s neck.
I looked up at Ella, who was now holding Lena and Little Leland. “Yep, we got the best daddy in the world.”
“Stop laughing.”
With my eyes closed, I said, “I can’t, Neil. This is awkward. Awkward situations make me laugh.”
“How is this awkward? Huh?”
“It’s awkward, because I don’t know what to do or where to look.”
“Open your eyes, and look at me. I need to see them anyway.”
I sighed, opened my eyes, and fixed them on him. He was so handsome, I swear he was painful to look at sometimes, and with his head in that pad, concentrating on his work, he was even more gorgeous.
With a creased brow, he looked up at me, his pencil moving as he stared at me. When I smiled, he asked, “What?”
“You really are a king, you know that?”
His pencil went still. “What?”
“You’re a king, a beautiful king. So handsome, so fine, so sexy.”
“Damn, what I do to make you say all that?”
“You treated—you treat me, like a queen.”
“Because you are a queen, a gorgeous one. See?” He turned the sketch pad around to show me the drawing—me in my usual house clothes, shorts and a tank top, lying on the chaise on our patio, a headwrap on my head, my eyes closed.
“I thought you were drawing my eyes open.”
“I like it better like this. What do you think?”
“I think you are ridiculously talented. She’s beautiful.”
He stood from his chair, setting the pad in the seat before joining me on the chaise. As he lay next to me, pulling me to him, he said. “She’s you, baby.”
“I know, but I think you made me look better than I really do.”
“You really have no idea how beautiful you are, do you? I mean, you have no clue how luminous this brown skin is…” He dragged the back of his hand down my arm. “Or how your lips feel like clouds.” He softly kissed me. “Or how I can see the past, present, and future in your eyes, how I can feel freedom when I’m inside you. You. Are. Beautiful. You are my world and my afterlife, the food of my soul, my thirst-quencher. You are my beginning, my end, and everything in between. My Oshun, my sangoma, my balm, my pain relief. You’re my home, baby. My home.”
After I blinked a few times, I said, “That was…poetic.”
“I’m a poet.”
“That’s right. You are, my renaissance man.” I kissed him and placed my hand on his cheek. “I love you, king.”
“I love you, too, baby.”
*****
“Sage, wake up.”
“Uh…just…here.” I lifted up on my knees and stuck my ass out. If he was gonna get it, that was the best I could do. I loved having sex with him, but a bitch was tired.
“Naw, baby, not that. Although I am tempted to say fuck it and climb in there behind you.”
“I know you are. Freaky ass,” I said into the pillow.
I heard him chuckle. “Baby, get up. I need to show you something. And put on some clothes.”
“Clothes? Since when did you start asking me to put clothes on?”
“Since I need you to come outside a
nd see something. You know good and hell well I don’t want nobody else seeing my titties and ass.”
“Your titties and ass?”
“It ain’t my titties and ass? Whose is it then?”
“I’m getting up.”
“Yeah, you better.”
Rubbing my eyes, I shuffled through the house in a pair of leggings and a sports bra, followed him out the front door, and screamed at the top of my lungs when I saw the white SUV sitting in the driveway.
“Is that mine?!” I shrieked.
“Yeah. All yours.”
“Really, baby?!”
He nodded. “Really, baby.”
I hurried over to it, ran my fingers over the hood, opened the door, and slid into the driver’s seat. I craned my neck to get a look at the backseat. It was a Lexus NX with black interior, and it was beautiful!
Neil opened the passenger door and climbed in next to me.
“You got me a whole car?! I can’t believe it! You got me a car! A new car!”
“Well, it’s gently used, got like twenty thousand miles on it, but it’s still under warranty.”
“Can we afford this?”
“You don’t check our account, do you?”
I shook my head. “I just been using the money in my old account.”
“Yes, baby…we can afford it. I sold some tracks, ones Ev didn’t use for the Mrs. South EP, to Ace Jace.”
“Oh, I love his music!”
“Yeah, so anyway…we’re good on money.”
“Thank you, Neil. I love it!”
“I’m glad you do, and hey, when are you gonna start bringing your clients here? I don’t care about you going to other folks’ houses, but you gotta meet the hood ones here. I meant that when I said it before.”
“I didn’t know if you were serious about that or not. I mean, you sure you don’t mind them coming here?”
“Yeah. Positive. Can’t let nothing happen to you.”
“You act like I’ma break or something. I’ve been out in these streets a long time, Neil.”
Let Me Free You (McClain Brothers Book 4) Page 11